The siege of Naples in 536 was a successful siege of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

by the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

under

Belisarius Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terr ...

during the Gothic War.
The Byzantine army under

, having subdued

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

with ease, landed on mainland Italy in late spring 536, and advanced along the coast on Naples. The citizens of Naples, after being roused by two pro-Gothic orators named Pastor and Asclepiodotus, decided to resist, even though Belisarius presented the city with very favorable conditions for surrender. The citizens of Naples were also under the impression that

Theodahad Theodahad, also known as Thiudahad ( la, Flavius Theodahatus , Theodahadus, Theodatus; 480 – December 536) was king of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536. Early life Born at in Tauresium, Theodahad was a nephew of Theodoric the Great throu ...

, king of the

Ostrogoths The Ostrogoths ( la, Ostrogothi, Austrogothi) were a Roman-era Germanic people. In the 5th century, they followed the Visigoths in creating one of the two great Gothic kingdoms within the Roman Empire, based upon the large Gothic populations who ...

, would send an army to relieve them. However, the siege dragged on for twenty days with numerous Byzantine casualties, and Belisarius was preparing to abandon it, until an Isaurian soldier under his command discovered an entrance into the city through its disused aqueduct. Belisarius sent engineers to widen the hole in the aqueduct while sending some soldiers to clear out the noise of the engineers working by banging their shields together. After giving the city a final chance to surrender, Belisarius launched his troops in a brutal sack. According to John Julius Norwich: The Ostrogothic garrison of 800 men was taken prisoner and treated well.The citizens of Naples, meanwhile, angrily killed Asclepiodotus for convincing them to reject Belisarius's demands, while Pastor committed suicide as the city fell.

Sources

References

Military history of Naples Naples 536 Naples 536

Gothic War (535–554) 530s in the Byzantine Empire 536 {{Byzantine-stub